Saudi Cleric Places Fatwa on Mickey Mouse

By Steve Fritz September 22, 2008 04:51am ET

Fatwa Placed on Mickey Mouse

In a story that’s so weird his has to be considered true, a leading
Saudi Arabian cleric has declared Mickey Mouse to be an “agent of
Satan.” As such, he has put a fatwa, or death sentence , on the Mouse’s
head.

According to the London Telegraph Sheik Muhammad Munajid
claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it
touches impure. He warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons
such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney's Mickey Mouse, had taught children
that it was in fact loveable. The cleric, a former diplomat at the
Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia (Islamic law),
both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed.
Not that Mickey’s alone in the condemnation department. During the
Moslem holy month of Ramadan, Saudi Arabia’s chief cleric, Sheikh Saleh
el-Lheidan, has also spat venom at the Olympics and Turkish soap
operas. He declared the international sporting event “obscene” and
claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes
dressed in skimpy outfits. As for the soaps, he has issues with various
bedroom scenes.
“I advise the owners of the shameless satellite stations who distribute
programs promoting impudence, insolence and silly humor,” said
el-Lheidan. “I warn them, they’re wasting people’s time and corrupting
them. If they don’t heed our call, their killing could be permissible.”
According to CNN, viewers across the Arab world are absorbing it all in; unaware, or uncaring about the edict controversy.
This is not the first time the Mouse has come into conflict with the
Muslim world. A few years back, the Palestinian political group Hamas
used an almost exact duplicate of the Mickey, named Farfour, as a sort of
host of its own TV show. From this pulpit it used to preach death and
destruction to its audience, young Palestinian children.
In 2007, the character was also “murdered” on air. A co-host of the
show declared Farfour was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli
official trying to buy Farfour's land. At one point, the mouse called
the Israeli a "terrorist."
"Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, a teen
co-star. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.